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Coast Guard wife receives honor for charity work

By Amaris Castillo, acastillo@lowellsun.com

Updated:
03/28/2018 12:44:19 PM EDT

Jennifer Dexter-Edsall, 34, formerly of Lowell, was recently recognized as the 2018 Gulf Coast Guard Military Spouse of the Year. She joins other base winners in the 2018 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year competition, which is presented by Military Spouse Magazine. COURTESY PHOTO

LOWELL -- Jennifer Dexter-Edsall has a soft spot for foster children because she used to be one.

"I bounced around a lot from a lot of different homes and it was rough," the Coast Guard wife and former Lowell resident recalled of entering the city's foster care system at age 11. "Foster kids kind of fall through the cracks. No one really thinks about them, or you have a bad reputation ... to make it through is kind of a big deal."

Dexter-Edsall, who said she aged out of the system at 19, has helped needy families as well as foster kids through the years in bases she has been stationed in. Most recently, Dexter-Edsall said she raised over $3,000 to purchase duffel bags filled with necessities and comfort items such as teddy bears and coloring books for foster children in Alabama, where she and her family are currently stationed. The children who receive the duffel bags can use them to keep their belongings in while moving to a new foster home, instead of the trash bags that Dexter-Edsall said they're usually given.

Her contributions have not gone unnoticed. Dexter-Edsall, 34, was recently recognized as the 2018 Gulf Coast Guard Military Spouse of the Year. She joins other base winners in the 2018 Armed Forces Insurance Military Spouse of the Year competition, which is presented by Military Spouse Magazine.

Dexter-Edsall's husband, Craig Edsall, Chief Petty Officer with the Coast Guard Aviation Center in Mobile, Alabama, nominated her in January for the award.

"I know everywhere she goes, she tries to make a positive impact in our community," Edsall, 40, said.

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"I thought this would be a nice way to recognize her."

Edsall said his wife hosted foster care Christmas parties two years in a row while they were stationed in Michigan, and helped to create a child identification program while they were in Iowa.

"I just think she's a super supportive wife," he added.

Dexter-Edsall said she was shocked when she won. She said she also teared up when reading what her husband wrote about her.

"The reason I do all of this is because I know what it is to grow up as a foster child. I don't do it to get recognized or get anything in return," she said. "My husband's not really the sentimental type, but the way he wrote it came straight from the heart. It just really hit me, close to the heart."

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